Not to be confused with Illbient or Chillhop. Please help improve it or discuss hop names issues on the talk page.
This article possibly contains original research. This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia’s quality standards. The talk page may contain suggestions. 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol.
Common musical aesthetics include a bass-heavy drumbeat, often providing the slowed down breakbeat samples similar to standard 1990s hip hop beats, giving the genre a more psychedelic and mainstream feel. Trip hop is also known for its melancholic sound. Trip hop tracks often incorporate Rhodes pianos, saxophones, trumpets, flutes, and may employ unconventional instruments such as the theremin and Mellotron. Trip hop differs from hip hop in theme and overall tone. The term “trip-hop” first appeared in print in June 1994.
In Bristol, hip hop began to seep into the consciousness of a subculture already well-schooled in Jamaican forms of music. DJs, MCs, b-boys and graffiti artists grouped together into informal soundsystems. Bristol’s Wild Bunch crew became one of the soundsystems to put a local spin on the international phenomenon, helping to birth Bristol’s signature sound of trip hop, often termed “the Bristol Sound”. Another influence came from Gary Clail’s Tackhead soundsystem. Clail often worked with former The Pop Group singer Mark Stewart. Massive Attack’s first album Blue Lines was released in 1991 to huge success in the United Kingdom. In 1993, Icelandic musician Björk released Debut, produced by Wild Bunch member Nellee Hooper.